The sugarbeet root maggot, Tetanops myopaeformis (Röder), is a major sugarbeet pest in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota. This investigation was carried out in a total of seven sites during 2001 and 2002 to determine if strips of sugarbeet seedlings ("trap beets") along the edge of T. myopaeformis source (previous-year sugarbeet) fields would arrest adults from dispersing to mate and/or oviposit in current-year sugarbeet fields. Secondarily, we sought to measure the management potential of applying a foliar insecticide to the trap zone. Each source field was planted to spring wheat and was adjacent to a current-year sugarbeet field. In 2001, a strip of sugarbeet seedlings (26.8 m wide x 805 m long) was sown into the newly planted spring wheat along ˝ of the length of each source field. The remaining length (805 m) was planted to spring wheat without trap beets. The trap zone width was increased to 53.6 m in 2002. Flies were monitored in trap and non-trap zones in source fields and adjacently in current-year sugarbeets at each site. Data from 2001 indicated that trap cropping reduced female movement into current-year beets during two weeks of high fly activity that included the peak oviposition period. Also, a trend toward lower feeding injury in current-year sugarbeets adjacent to the trap crop was observed. Findings from both seasons will be presented and implications regarding the potential of trap cropping and reduced area insecticide treatment for protecting sugarbeet fields from T. myopaeformis injury will be discussed.
Species 1: Diptera Otitidae Tetanops myopaeformis (Sugarbeet Root Maggot)
Keywords: trap crop, IPM
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